Hidden costs are hidden everywhere.
Buy a car on credit and pay double the price of the sticker. Same with the house. For example, regulated home loans and balloon payments have largely contributed to the real estate crisis. And taxes strongly bite. Just ask any small businessman.
Maybe because we, the Americans, like our energy, are at a low level, or at least relatively.
But there are hidden costs. In February, a study was published at the Harvard Medical School "Center for Health and the Global Environment", which indicated the estimated hidden annual costs of electricity generated by coal, worth $ 538 billion or an additional 18 cents per kilowatt-hour. Peswiki.com listed the commercial value of coal from 4.8 to 5.5 cents per kWh.
For some prospects, solar costs range from 15 to 30 cents per kWh and wind from 4 to 6 cents.
“Coal bears a heavy burden,” says the report, “Mountain Coal, Installation Costs.” The Harvard study took into account the costs of health care (11,000 deaths each year from lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the respiratory system and kidneys) and the environmental effects of fly ash spills (53 from 1974 to 2008) and the removal of mountain peaks (500 remote and 1, 4 million acres).
The beauty of coal is that it is cheap, relatively easy to extract with today's technologies and domestic ones. There is also a lot. However, research shows that digging up and burning to create electricity does not have flaws, at least with current practice. The solution of these issues will essentially add to the price, and any strengthened rules, as a rule, oppose the industry.
Natural gases show the best emissions, and they are easy to carry on paper from 3.9 to 4.4 cents per kWh. It is expected that internal reserves will also rapidly develop using the latest drilling technology for fracturing.
On the other hand, oil has its own problems. At the time of this writing, oil prices per barrel exceeded 105 US dollars, and the forecast for one year rose to 121 dollars, according to oil-price.net. And since the growing conflict in Libyan cultures, crude oil brings with it high political costs.
The conflict between Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi and eastern separatists has led California gas prices to rise 50 cents per gallon in January, according to californiagasprices.com. Development depended on politicians who could thwart a precarious economic recovery and grumble consumers. If commodity traders are nervous and prices are high, the cost of everything from food to services will rise.
For example, I heard at National Public Radio that several airlines have already raised rates half a dozen times this year due to increased fuel costs.
But this is reliable transparency, which is published daily by major media. Less visible, but no less costly, is what Gal Luft, executive director of the Global Security Analysis Institute, calls the “terrorist prize.” In the “Oil and New Economic Order” report, Luft says that the premium costs between $ 65 billion and $ 85 billion. US per year.
Oil internationally receives Lithuanian subsidies from countries that protect consumers from three-quarters of their fuel costs. As I wrote in a previous report, the International Energy Agency, in its report published this summer, says that its analysis showed that in 2008, subsidies for the consumption of fossil fuels are estimated at 557 billion dollars. It also increases the cost.
Green energy, by comparison, receives pennies in subsidies. Research Group Bloomberg New Energy Finance, based in London, says that "governments last year worry from $ 43 billion to $ 46 billion. Support for renewable energy." This is due to tax credits, guaranteed electricity prices, known as food tariffs and alternative energy loans. Germany is the leader in these groups with a solar fee, but this can be announced.
And to make this discussion constantly interesting is progress that increases the efficiency of solar energy. Technologies concentrating the sun's rays and various methods of creating energy storage increase the ability of the renewable to competition.
I like the “battery” concept, which uses a silo filled with water, and a massive counterweight that pushes water to generate energy when the sun sets or the wind stops. Underground silo is filled with water by the energy generated by the solar or wind system.
And the more traditional battery technology takes huge steps. I recently tweeted a lithium water battery. No kidding. It might work.
So, who knows how this will develop? Obviously, my non-profit organization is prejudiced. We will want to see how the San Joaquin Valley will become a leader in all areas of renewable energy, creating collateral enterprises and inspiring entrepreneurs to understand all this useful energy that surrounds us. And create some jobs in the process.
